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September 05, 2012

Outside the Castle while Royalty Converse

Bernie Goldbach in Cahir | Photo of Cahir Castle

MORNING NEWS IN IRELAND occasionally covers the savings government agencies expect to achieve through enhanced operations and consolidation. From what I often see, however, limited consultation with troops on the ground occurs before the grand plans start making their rounds in the media.

It's as though the masters of the castle fail to check with the foot soldiers or armorers before reinforcing defences before battle. Something like that happened at Cahir Castle (in the photo) before it fell to larger than expected ordnance and technology-leaping catapults.

My current focus lies with the amalgamation of county structures in north and south Tipperary. On paper, it looks like there will may be excess staff in some functional areas. Based on managers meeting to flesh out job descriptions and historical workloads, some people may be erased from organisational wiring diagrams. This gives the Minister for Public Expenditure the joy of an efficient public purse.

But there is a catch. As improbable as it may seem to critics of the civil service, some conscientious staffers work to get their jobs done instead of working to merely fulfil a brief. Their managers haven't the scope to redefine their briefs to encompass the total productive workloads.

So when consolidation happens across various civil service agencies and dozens of people are identified as excess to the mission, we taxpayers may want to call the chat show hosts and ask who decided to ignore the foot soldiers before the castle walls were breached.

The erosion of services is inevitable because the upper level planners have not asked for proper impact analysis. In the case of Cahir Castle, a lowly armorer could have told the Lord of the Manor that the wider bore of the cannons on the high ground would breach the defenses. Failing to ask ensured the demise of a prominent family in Ireland. Those who fail to read the pages of the past deserve to wallow in their mistakes.

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Outside the Castle while Royalty Converse

Bernie Goldbach in Cahir | Photo of Cahir Castle

MORNING NEWS IN IRELAND occasionally covers the savings government agencies expect to achieve through enhanced operations and consolidation. From what I often see, however, limited consultation with troops on the ground occurs before the grand plans start making their rounds in the media.

It's as though the masters of the castle fail to check with the foot soldiers or armorers before reinforcing defences before battle. Something like that happened at Cahir Castle (in the photo) before it fell to larger than expected ordnance and technology-leaping catapults.

My current focus lies with the amalgamation of county structures in north and south Tipperary. On paper, it looks like there will may be excess staff in some functional areas. Based on managers meeting to flesh out job descriptions and historical workloads, some people may be erased from organisational wiring diagrams. This gives the Minister for Public Expenditure the joy of an efficient public purse.